loriobendorfportfolio.weebly.com · Web viewAs a prospective elementary reading teacher, I am attempting to better understand the ways in which children learn language and which

Running head: ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 1

Action Research Project: Developing Kindergarteners’ Alphabet Knowledge

Loras College

ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT 2

Introduction and Setting

I spent the last three weeks working with kindergarteners in Mrs. Lee’s class at Fulton

Elementary School. Fulton is a Title I school, with 87.5% of kindergarteners receiving free or

reduced lunch. Additionally, 12.5% of kindergarteners are English Language Learners. Mrs.

Lee’s class is very diverse, with students of a variety of races, socioeconomic statuses, and

language backgrounds. The three students I worked with are Angel, Ailea, and Anttonio. Angel

is an English Language Learner at the Intensive level who struggles with many alphabet letters

and sounds. Ailea is at the high end of the Strategic level. She knows all of her letters and almost

all of her sounds, and is working on sight words, beginning sounds, rhyming, segmentation, and

blending. Anttonio is at the Strategic level and knows most of his letters, but struggles with some

of the sounds. I worked with each student for 30 minutes each day, for a total of 12 days. We did

our activities at a table in the kindergarten hallway.

Purpose and Goals

As a prospective elementary reading teacher, I am attempting to better understand the

ways in which children learn language and which strategies are effective for enhancing their

emergent literacy skills. I am working to accomplish this through the experience of working with

kindergartners on language and literacy development. I hope to enhance the literacy skills of my

three students by working with them on skills that are important for future academic success,

specifically Alphabet Knowledge. The primary focus of my action research is Angel, and given

his history, my goal is to help him learn four more letters and sounds. My secondary focus is on

Anttonio, and my goal is to help him learn the seven lowercase letters and eight letter sounds he

doesn’t know. These goals are in line with the Iowa Core Standards RF.K.1d, which states that

students will recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet, and RF.K.3a,


which states that students will demonstrate basic knowledge of letter-sound correspondences by

producing the primary or most frequent sound for each consonant.

Research Question

In what ways can I use technology to help Angel learn four more letter names and

sounds, and Anttonio learn seven more lowercase letters and eight more sounds?

Framework for Using Technology

Technology can be a very beneficial tool when working to increase the literacy

development of young children. Even so, there are many things to consider when deciding

whether or not to use technology in instruction, and if so, which types and apps to use. The most

important part of this decision-making process is to center instruction not on the technology, but

on the goal of the lesson and the skill that is being targeted.

Using technology as a tool when working with my kindergarteners has been very

successful. Technology has many benefits that create meaningful instruction. For example, the

iPad makes it very simple to differentiate instruction for each student. Most of the apps can be

modified to focus on what the students need to be working on. I often modify the apps to focus

on specific letters, sounds, or words, depending on what I am targeting for that day. The iPad

apps also provide immediate feedback to the students. As soon as a student chooses an answer,

the app lets him know whether he is right or wrong. The activities are also low-risk, as their

wrong answers disappear and they have a chance to try again. As a teacher, I can sit back and

watch which errors students are making and collect information about what skills we need to

focus on moving forward. Finally, the iPads are very engaging and motivating to the students,

providing them with a different and exciting way to learn. When using the iPads, visual,


auditory, and kinesthetic learning are all taking place, increasing the chance that they will

remember the material.

While the iPad has many benefits, it certainly comes with some limitations as well. For

example, the electronic flashcards do not allow for incremental rehearsal, making paper

flashcards a better option in this case. Also, after a child provides an answer on an app, it often

disappears quickly and moves on to the next question or section of the activity. This takes away

the chance for the teacher to discuss the question, especially if the student just guessed and

happened to get it right. It is important to put a lot of thought into how much technology and

which apps to use during instruction. Sometimes, it is more beneficial for students to learn

through other tools, such as journals and markers, flashcards, and manipulatives. It is important

to consider which activities will best accomplish the purpose of the instruction. Certain apps

must also be chosen based on what skills are being targeted. For example, when I am working

with letter sounds, I use an app that says a letter sound and has the child pick the letter that

matches the sound. When I am working with letter identification, I often use apps that say the

letter name and have the child trace it. While the app provides this basic task, I make my own

modifications based on what I want to accomplish. For example, after we have done a lot of

work with letters, I may turn the sound off and have the student say the letter himself instead of

letting the app just tell him. Most of all, it is important that the app or activity has a specific

purpose and targets a specific skill that the student needs help with.

Assessment

I tested both Angel and Anttonio with the Letter-Sound Identification Assessment as a

pretest. Angel scored 10 for uppercase letters, 12 for lowercase letters, and 6 for letter sounds.

However, I don’t think Angel’s results were a good representation of his knowledge. The days


before and after I tested him, he seemed to know much more than he demonstrated on the test.

Therefore, based on my interactions with him and informal assessment, I created what I believe

is a more accurate representation of what he knew at the beginning of the study:

Uppercase letters not known well: F, G, I, J, Q, R, U, V (score of 18)Lowercase letters not known well: f, g, i, j, q, r, v, y (score of 18)Letter sounds not known well: a, e, f, g, i, q, r, u, w, x, y (score of 15)

I used this information as a baseline for Angel. I think that Anttonio’s Letter-Sound

Identification Assessment was more accurate, as it was consistent with what I observed from my

interactions with him early on, so I used that as a baseline for Anttonio. He scored 25 for

uppercase letters, 19 for lowercase letters, and 18 for letter sounds.

I did a midway assessment for both of my students on Thursday, January 14 and a

posttest on Wednesday, January 20 to see how much progress they made. I also took field notes

after every session, explaining what we did and how they performed on the activities. I used

these notes to guide my plan for instruction. Finally, I took pictures and videos during the

sessions, demonstrating what we worked on.

Intervention: What the Research Says

Alphabet Knowledge (AK), the ability to identify the names and sounds of the letters of

the alphabet, is identified by the National Early Literacy Panel as one of the skills that is highly

correlated with later literacy achievement (Lonigan & Shanahan, 2009). The importance of AK

has been noted in a number of recent research studies. Children who struggle with letter and

sound identification tend to experience literacy difficulties later on. Research also indicates

“greater impacts on children’s reading and spelling when instruction includes an alphabet

component than when it does not” (Piasta, 2014, p. 203). This is because children’s knowledge

of the letters and sounds of the alphabet helps them to connect speech to written language (Pence

Turnbull, Bowles, Skibbe, Justice, & Wiggins, 2010) and decode words while reading (Jones &


Reutzel, 2012). Besides highlighting the importance of AK for literacy development, research

also discusses theories of how children learn letters and models for teaching AK in early

childhood classrooms.

Research indicates that there are many differences among children and letters when it

comes to learning the alphabet. Piasta (2014) explains that children with certain backgrounds are

more likely to experience difficulties in developing AK, including English Language Learners,

and students with speech and language impairments, developmental delays, and few experiences

with print. Therefore, when children enter kindergarten, there is a wide range of knowledge and

experience within each classroom. There also appears to be variation among the letters and the

order in which they are learned. Studies have found that how easily a letter is learned may be

influenced by factors such as order in the alphabet, frequency of the letter’s appearance in print,

letter-name structure, visual similarity to other letters, phonological similarity to other letters,

and the number of sounds a letter makes (Piasta, 2014). Pence Turnball et al. (2010) conducted a

study in which they examined four hypotheses related to lowercase letter knowledge in

preschoolers. They found support for three factors that influence whether or not students know a

certain lowercase letter. Children in the study were more likely to know lowercase letters if they

knew the corresponding uppercase letter. They also knew more lowercase letters that looked

similar to their uppercase letters. Finally, they were more likely to know lowercase letters that

appear more often in print. Interestingly, the own-name advantage hypothesis, supported by

many research studies, was not supported, as students were not more likely to know the

lowercase letter of their first initial. The researchers theorized that this is because “the own-name

advantage occurs only in the presence of knowledge of the corresponding uppercase letter”

(Pence Turnball et al., 2010, p. 1764).


The implications for how AK should be taught in kindergarten classrooms are many. It is

clear from the research that many factors influence whether or not children know a certain letter

and the ease with which they learn it. That is why Piasta (2014) suggests an approach that is both

assessment-guided and differentiated. She claims that “traditional approaches typically do not

address differences in children’s alphabet knowledge” (Piasta, 2014, p. 206). Therefore,

educators should determine which letters and sounds children do and do not know through a

diagnostic assessment. They should then decide which letters should be taught to whom. For

example, if there is a letter that only one student does not know, that letter should be explicitly

taught one-on-one to that child. Studies also suggest that it may be beneficial to teach letter

names and sounds simultaneously so that students learn to connect the two (Piasta, 2014, p. 210).

Pence Turnball et al.’s (2010) findings indicate that the most important predictor of whether

children know a lowercase letter is whether they know the corresponding uppercase letter. This

suggests that teachers should use children’s knowledge of uppercase letters as a pathway for

teaching lowercase letters. Teachers should also take into account the difficulty of learning

certain letters and devote more instructional time to those letters. Jones & Reutzel (2012)

developed an approach known as Enhanced Alphabet Knowledge (EAK) that consists of three

components: “(1) letter-a-day pacing with increasing flexibility, (2) distributed review cycles,

and (3) lessons that efficiently teach students” (Jones & Reutzel, 2012, p. 456). This strategy

allowed for a variation in the amount of time spent on each letter depending on its difficulty,

which contrasts the traditional letter-a-week approach. With each letter being presented in the

first 26 days of the school year, teachers had the flexibility to review each letter throughout the

year and spend an appropriate amount of time on each one. This exploratory study resulted in

increased success in kindergarteners’ learning of alphabet letters.


Research overwhelmingly supports the importance of AK as a foundation for later

literacy achievement. Because children come into kindergarten with a wide range of knowledge

and experience, teachers must work to develop a plan for increasing each student’s AK. They

must consider not only the students’ backgrounds and abilities, but also the research behind how

children learn letters. By taking these factors into account, educators will be able to determine

which strategies are most effective in fostering the literacy development of their students.

Instruction

When I first began working with Angel, I did a quick assessment to see where he was at.

I found out that he was able to write his name, but did not write anything else when prompted. I

noticed that there were many upper- and lowercase letters and sounds that he did not know, so

my primary focus became letter and sound identification. I used a variety of apps and other

instructional tools to help Angel learn more letters. I began every session with flashcards. I went

through all of the uppercase letters asking for the letter’s name and sound, and then did the same

with all of the lowercase letters. Every time, I took note of the letters Angel was struggling with.

Here is a sample of our work with flashcards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=NH3JgHDoy6I&index=13&list=PLBb1LF31AD3shZEk8DCwn8DTbTFsMjUAd

Each day, I targeted two or three letters to work on. I used the apps Intro to Letters, Little

Writers, ABC Alphabet, and Little Matchups to target these letters. The app I chose depended on

my purpose for the lesson. If Angel really did not know a letter, I used the Little Writers app.

This app presents the letter, says its name, and has the child trace it. I would also have him repeat

the letter name before he traced it. Once Angel was starting to get the letter down, I would turn

the sound off and have him say the letter himself. I modified this app to include letters that Angel

was good at, as well as letters he needed help with. If I was targeting a lowercase letter and


sound, I often used the Intro to Letters app because it says the sound of the letter instead of the

name. I also used this app if I wanted to choose the order of the letters because it allows you to

just pick one letter at a time to work on. Here is an example of our work with the Little Writers

app: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=tc_2_GstqdI&index=25&list=PLBb1LF31AD3shZEk8DCwn8DTbTFsMjUAd

When I wanted to work on matching letters with their sounds, I often used the Little

Matchups app. This app has the student listen to a letter sound and match it with the letter. I was

also able to modify the app to produce the letters we were working on. Here is an example of our

work with the Little Matchups app: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=GnMLohw8MTI&list=PLBb1LF31AD3shZEk8DCwn8DTbTFsMjUAd&index=32. Angel

did well with this app because he was able to tap the sound multiple times to hear it and choose

which letter it belongs to. We also used the ABC Alphabet app to work on sounds. This app

presents multiple letters, says a sound, and has the child pick the correct letter. I was also able to

target specific sounds and adjust the number of options Angel had to pick from. He was very

successful when the options were limited, helping to reinforce some of his difficult letter sounds.


The other tool that I used with my instruction with Angel was the journal. I did not use

this very much, but when I did, it was to reinforce the letter names. I would ask Angel to write a

certain letter and see how he did. This

activity was more challenging for him

because he had to independently recall

the letter and produce it. I think it was

successful, however, in helping him to

remember the letters, even if I had to show

him how to write it and have him copy it.

In the following picture, the letters that I modeled in the upper-right hand corner are the ones that

Angel couldn’t remember how to write.

My work with Anttonio was pretty similar to my work with Angel. I began each session

by going over the lowercase letters and sounds with the flashcards because he already knew his

uppercase letters. Here is a sample of our work with flashcards:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=WfcE_k60HxU&index=18&list=PLBb1LF31AD3shZEk8DCwn8DTbTFsMjUAd. Like

Angel, I used the apps Little Writer, Little Matchups, and ABC Alphabet to reinforce letter


names and sounds. Some different activities and apps that I used with Anttonio were Doodle

Buddy and Montessori Crosswords. Anttonio was struggling with his short vowel sounds, so I

used these apps to target this. On the Doodle Buddy app, I would have Anttonio write each of the

vowels and say their sounds:

I would then work on vowel pronunciation and medial vowel substitution in CVC words using

the Montessori Crosswords app. I would first pull up all of the vowels and have Anttonio

practice saying their sounds, as shown in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=QRx0rSOwpzU&list=PLBb1LF31AD3shZEk8DCwn8DTbTFsMjUAd&index=45. Then, we

would form CVC words using medial vowel substitution. Anttonio struggled with the

segmenting and blending involved in this activity. He was able to isolate the phonemes pretty

well, but then had trouble blending them back together to say the word. Even so, I think this

helped Anttonio to hear and practice the difference between /e/ and /a/. Here is an example of our

work on CVC words with medial vowel substitution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=Ff0Jx38hBKk&list=PLBb1LF31AD3shZEk8DCwn8DTbTFsMjUAd&index=37.

I also used some journal writing with Anttonio to reinforce letters and their sounds. We

practiced writing CVC words together. I would say the word and help Anttonio to decide which

letters to write. He once again demonstrated his confusion of /a/ and /e/. In the picture below, he

wrote the word “mat” three times. I asked him to write “met,” and even when I told him to try


again, he kept writing “mat.” Only when I really emphasized the /e/ did he realize it was a letter

e.

Results

Angel and Anttonio responded very well to the intervention and made substantial

progress towards the goals that I set for them. These are the record sheets from Angel and

Anttonio’s Letter-Sound Identification Assessments:

Here is an overview of their scores:

Angel Anttonio


1/6 1/14 1/20 1/6 1/14 1/20

Uppercase Letter ID

18* 22 25 25 26 26

Lowercase Letter ID

18* 21 24 19 23 22

Letter Sounds

15* 19 22 18 23 24

*Note: These scores are adjusted based on my informal assessment of him (explained above)

Angel’s assessment shows that he met the goals I set for him, which were to learn four

more letters and sounds. Based on the results, he learned seven more uppercase letters, six more

lowercase letters, and seven more letter sounds. I believe Angel improved even more than this

test demonstrates. During the last session, we went through our flashcards one last time and he

correctly identified every uppercase letter correctly. He also got every sound correct except for

/q/, and for lowercase letters, he got all of them right except for u. I think this shows that Angel

has better knowledge of just about every letter and sound in the alphabet. He may be a little

inconsistent in his identification, but he is certainly doing much better than he was three weeks

ago.

One of Angel’s biggest accomplishments throughout the last three weeks was learning

both upper- and lowercase G, as well as its sound. I really targeted this letter because it is in

Angel’s name and I thought it was important for him to know. Angel had no knowledge of

uppercase G at the beginning of the study. When I asked him to write an uppercase G, he wrote it

in lowercase:


Angel also did not know the /g/ phoneme when we began working together. He thought it was

pronounced /j/ because that is the way it is pronounced in his name. He also sometimes identified

G as the letter J. Here is a video of Angel working with the letter G:


v=JpztkWjHr0s&index=26&list=PLBb1LF31AD3shZEk8DCwn8DTbTFsMjUAd

There are a few other observations I made about Angel throughout these three weeks. First of all,

he is much better at identifying letters and sounds in the context of the alphabet. Whenever I

used the Magnetic Alphabet app to drag a letter up and have him identify it, Angel had more

success identifying the letter. I think he was able to look back at the alphabet letters and see

where the letter was placed, helping him to figure out which one it was. When I realized this, I

began doing activities that produced letters outside of the context of the alphabet. Throughout the

three weeks, I noticed that Angel did a much better job of identifying letters without using their

placement in the alphabet to guide him. Angel also greatly improved on his identification and

pronunciation of vowel sounds. From the start, he consistently said /o/ for the letter a and could

not come up with /e/. He also struggled to remember /u/. By the end of the three weeks, Angel

was doing a much better job of pronouncing short vowel sounds, as demonstrated in this video:



v=1UtfQ23jYRk&list=PLBb1LF31AD3shZEk8DCwn8DTbTFsMjUAd&index=59. He still had

trouble pronouncing /e/ at times, but improved a lot from where he was at.

My goal for Anttonio was for him to learn the seven lowercase letters and eight sounds

that he did not know. While he did not quite reach this goal, he did learn three more lowercase

letters and six more sounds. On January 14, he knew four more lowercase letters, so I think he

just made a mistake on January 20 when he identified q as p, since he doesn’t normally do that. I

also think Anttonio really does know the lowercase letter g. After the assessment, I asked him to

identify the g in the D’Nealian font and he got it right away. He also incorrectly identified y as w

on the posttest, which is the first time he has done that. Therefore, the only lowercase letters that

Anttonio didn’t know on a consistent basis were l and i. I think this is a great improvement from

where he started out.

For much of our time together, Anttonio mixed up /y/ and /w/. By the end, he was

consistently producing the correct sounds, which was a great accomplishment for him. Anttonio

also improved on his identification and pronunciation of vowel sounds. He often pronounced e as

/a/, and seemed to have trouble differentiating between the two. He also struggled to remember

/i/. Even though he got both of these incorrect on his posttest, Anttonio was able to identify the

sounds at times and with some scaffolding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=QRx0rSOwpzU&list=PLBb1LF31AD3shZEk8DCwn8DTbTFsMjUAd&index=45.

Next Steps

For Angel, there needs to be more reinforcement of the letters and their sounds. Angel

has improved greatly on letter-sound identification, but he can be pretty inconsistent. It also takes

him a while to remember the names and sounds of letters, so he needs to become more fluent and

rapid with his naming of letters. As Angel continues to become more familiar with letters, he


needs to start utilizing his knowledge with activities involving segmenting and blending. He

should work on listening to the sounds in a CVC word and identifying which letters he needs in

order to spell the word. We did some work with this towards the end of our time together, and

Angel did pretty well with it. He does need more work with his short vowel sounds, as he often

gets them confused. I would work on getting those short vowel sounds down and helping him

choose the right one to form a certain word. Finally, he needs to work on writing his letters. I

mentioned that he struggles with independent letter recall. Therefore, he needs to practice

hearing a letter and being able to write it.

Anttonio needs continued work with segmenting and blending and production of short

vowel sounds. He needs to practice hearing a word and being able to identify which letters

belong in the word, especially the vowels. Work with beginning sounds can also go along with

this. We did some work with beginning sounds and Anttonio was successful when the first

phoneme was really emphasized. Anttonio also needs to begin working with sight words because

he knows very few. I think he knows enough sounds to be able to identify very short sight words.

In order to read, he will need more practice learning sight words that are not spelled phonetically.

Classroom Applications

I learned so much from this class that I think I will be able to use in my future as an

elementary school teacher. First of all, I learned how important emergent literacy skills are for

future reading and overall academic success. Since I was exposed to so much language and

literature as a child, I didn’t realize that so many children do not have access to the kinds of rich

experiences that I did growing up. Therefore, it is very important that teachers work to develop

these skills in the classroom. I also learned how important it is to build literacy instruction

around what the students need to learn and not spend too much time on what they already know.


Children need to be met where they’re at so that they get the instruction that they need. Students

who are struggling with alphabet letters need focused instruction on the letters that they don’t

know in order to keep up with the other skills being developed.

I also learned a lot about how literacy time is structured at the kindergarten level. I was

able to observe a little bit of their rotations and see the different activities they do. I like that the

students were involved in a variety of activities ranging from independent reading, to journal

writing, to working with manipulatives. I also gained some insights about the importance of a

word wall that is easily accessible to students. Unfortunately, in Mrs. Lee’s class, the students I

worked with didn’t know much about the class’ word wall. I think it is important to make sure

the students know what it is and how they can use it.

Additionally, I learned how beneficial it can be to use technology in literacy instruction.

This was my first time using iPads to teach in a classroom and I really saw how effective they

can be. Technology is a convenient way to teach a variety of skills that students need to work on.

By modifying the apps, I found that I could focus on particular skills, letters, and words and

reinforce those over and over. Technology is also exciting for students and gets them engaged in

the content. Even so, I think it is also important to use other tools, such as journal writing.

Students writing with a real marker and paper is an effective way to help them develop a variety

of literacy skills.

Finally, this class reinforced my belief that no matter where students are at, they can be

successful if they get proper instruction. I was blown away by how much my students improved

in such a short time. When students are motivated and excited about learning and have someone

helping them to get to where they need to be, they can make so much progress. I am really


excited about the impact that I made with my students and look forward to continuing that once I

have my own students someday.


References

Jones, C. D., & Reutzel, D. R. (2012). Enhanced alphabet knowledge instruction: Exploring a

change of frequency, focus, and distributed cycles of review. Reading Psychology, 33(5),

448-464.

Lonigan, C. J., & Shanahan, T. (2009). Developing early literacy: Report of the National Early

Literacy Panel. Executive summary. A scientific synthesis of early literacy development

and implications for intervention. National Institute for Literacy.

Pence Turnbull, K. L., Bowles, R. P., Skibbe, L. E., Justice, L. M., & Wiggins, A. K. (2010).

Theoretical explanations for preschoolers' lowercase alphabet knowledge. Journal Of

Speech, Language, And Hearing Research, 53(6), 1757-1768.

Piasta, S. B. (2014). Moving to assessment-guided differentiated instruction to support young

children's alphabet knowledge. Reading Teacher, 68(3), 202-211.


Action Research Plan

Purpose:As a prospective teacher, I am currently working with three kindergartners on language and literacy development. Through this experience, I am attempting to better understand the ways in which children learn language and which strategies are effective for enhancing their emergent literacy skills. The primary focus of my action research is Angel, an English Language Learner at the Intensive level who needs help learning his letters and sounds. Given his history, my goal is to help Angel learn four more letters and sounds. My secondary focus is on Anttonio, who is at the Strategic level and knows most of his letters, but struggles with some of the sounds. My goal is to help Anttonio learn the seven lowercase letters and eight letter sounds he doesn’t know. Wondering:In what ways can I use technology to help Angel learn four more letter names and sounds, and Anttonio learn seven more lowercase letters and eight more sounds? Method:I am using a variety of tools to achieve my objective, including flashcards, a journal, and various iPad apps. My method is to introduce and reinforce the letters that Angel and Anttonio struggle with while also reviewing the letters that they do know. Every day, we will review all the upper- and lowercase letters and their sounds using a flashcard set. We will then transition to iPad apps that reinforce letter names and sounds, including Magnetic Alphabet, Intro to Letters, Little Matchups, Little Writer, and ABC Alphabet. These apps, used in conjunction, will allow Angel and Anttonio to see the letter, hear the letter’s name and sound, and trace the letter. Many of these apps allow you to change the settings so that certain letters are targeted. I will be sure to set the apps to target the letters we are focusing on that day, while also reviewing the letters that Angel and Anttonio know. At times, I will also incorporate some journal writing into our sessions. Sessions will last 30 minutes per student and will take place in the hallway outside the classroom. Data:I tested both Angel and Anttonio with the Letter-Sound Identification Assessment as a pretest. However, I don’t think Angel’s results were a good representation of his knowledge. The days before and after I tested him, he seemed to know much more than he demonstrated on the test. Therefore, based on my interactions with him and informal assessment, I created what I believe is a more accurate representation of what he knows at the beginning of the study:Uppercase letters not known well: F, G, I, J, Q, R, U, VLowercase letters not known well: f, g, i, j, q, r, v, yLetter sounds not known well: e, f, g, i, q, r, u, w, x, yI am using this information as a baseline for Angel. I think that Anttonio’s Letter-Sound Identification Assessment was more accurate, as it was consistent with what I observed from my interactions with him early on, so I am going to use that as a baseline for Anttonio. At the end of the intervention, I will assess them both again to determine their progress. I will also take field notes after every session, explaining what we did and how they performed on the activities. Finally, I will take pictures and videos during the sessions, demonstrating what we worked on. Calendar:


January 5-8: I will get to know the students and find out what they know and what they need to work on. I will formally assess them using the Letter-Sound Identification Assessment. I will model the use of the apps and do some informal assessment by observing their initial performances on the apps and taking notes about which letters and sounds they need the most help with. January 11-15: Once I have determined which letters and sounds the two students need to work on, I will use the apps to target those letters and sounds. Every day, I will begin by going through all of the upper- and lowercase letters and sounds using flashcards. I will then use the apps to target the letters and sounds that the students don’t know, while also reviewing the ones they do know. So that the students do not get too bored with the activities, I will include some other activities that focus on other skills, such as rhyme, segmenting, blending, beginning sounds, and writing. This especially applies to Anttonio, who is more prepared to work on these types of skills. On January 14, I will conduct the Letter-Sound Identification Assessment to see what progress they have made so far. January 19-21: On January 19 and 20, I will continue reviewing and reinforcing the target letters and sounds using the flashcards and apps. On the last day, I will conduct the Letter-Sound Identification Assessment as a posttest to see how much the students improved throughout the intervention period.

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loriobendorfportfolio.weebly.com · Web viewAs a prospective elementary reading teacher, I am attempting to better understand the ways in which children learn language and which